The Interrelationship Between The Structures Of Borate Glasses And Crystals

A summary is presented of structural data for the crystalline polymorphs existing in a wide range of binary borate glass-forming systems and is used as a basis to propose a set of topolgical criteria for the formation of vitreous borate networks. It is shown that this yields considerable insight concerning the structural criteria for the formation of such networks, but that the information which can be obtained is limited by the fact that many of the relevant crystalline structures have not been determined.